There was a time in the past when religious education classes were soft, when the students drew pictures, made collages and spoke about their feelings. But when it came to instruction, solid content was lacking.

Jesus’ boyhood home of Nazareth sits on a ridge overlooking a broad valley. Mount Tabor (the site in the Gospel passage for Feb. 25) towers above the valley just a short distance away. Surveying the scene, I have wondered if today’s Gospel story was the only time Jesus had made a pilgrimage up that holy mountain. As a boy growing up in Nazareth, how often had he gone to the edge of town to view the mountain? As a young man, had Mount Tabor often been a place to spend time in communion with his Father and with the holy ones who had come before him?

Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore, visited Archbishop Bernard Hebda Feb. 9 to discuss the archbishop’s new role on CRS’s board, which he joined last fall. Callahan spoke with The Catholic Spirit about the archbishop’s role and the work of CRS, including CRS Rice Bowl. CRS is the international humanitarian aid arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A parishioner of St. Andrew Kim in St. Paul, Kim is one of many parishioners enjoying the Olympics from afar as South Korea hosts the 2018 Winter Games. St. Andrew Kim serves Korean Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

As the Catholic Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, a French bishop announced the 70th officially recognized miraculous cure of a pilgrim to the Lourdes grotto where Mary appeared 160 years ago.